2 and a Half Years
by jedihiro
Summary: Hinata and Team 8 meet Naruto during a mission to help a village get rid of two unwanted guests. After their unexpected meeting, Team 8's fate has become entwined into Naruto's as they continue to bump into him during his 2 and a Half years of training.
1. New Mission:Save the Hotspring Village!

"_Please watch me," thought Naruto as he stared at the carving of the head of Minato Namikaze on the Hokage monument._

_Suddenly Naruto was awakened from his daydream as Jiraiya yelled, "What are you doing?! I'm going to leave you behind, Naruto."_

_The yellow-headed ninja screamed at Jiraiya telling him to wait up. Little did he know that a girl with light lavender eyes watched him from behind a post thinking to herself, "I'm going to work hard so that I can keep up with Naruto-kun!" Slowly the blond-haired ninja began his journey walking away with his sensei leaving Konoha behind as they became specks in the sunset._

6 months later…

Konoha Training Grounds

A girl with lavender eyes was quietly talking with her two teammates. One had a small dog inside his jacket, while the other stayed absolutely still and said nothing. "I w-wonder what K-Kurenai-sensei called us here for," wondered the girl with lavender eyes asked the boy with the small dog.

"Well Kurenai-sensei probably gathered us here so we could go on a mission Hinata," replied the boy with the dog.

"I g-guess s-so Kiba-kun," replied Hinata meekly. She slowly thought back on that day before the final rounds of the Chunin exams. That was the day the blond-haired ninja had talked to her in this very exact spot.

_Flashback_

_Hinata was standing behind a wooden post deep in thought as a blond-haired boy called out to her. It was Naruto-kun she thought to herself as she turned around nervously. "Why did you come here? Isn't today the main matches?"_

_The blond boy replied, "I uh …You know. I just came to see this training area. Since this is where I became a Genin."_

_Hinata replied cautiously, "Really? But why?"_

"_No reason! Who cares about the reason," the boy replied._

"_Yeah. Sorry," she muttered_

_The blond asked the girl, "Hey, Hinata. Neji is your relative, right?"_

"_Yes," replied the girl._

"_Is he strong,"_

"_Yes…"_

"_I see," said the boy with a tinge of insecurity._

"_But… You might be able to defeat him, Naruto-kun."_

"_Yeah! I am strong!"_

"_I'm sure you can beat him, Naruto-kun. Um, when you cheered me on, I felt like I had become stronger than before. After the preliminaries, I was able to like myself a little more. If a stranger looked at me, it might seem like I haven't changed… But I think I was able to change. And I think it was thanks to you Naruto-kun."_

"_Hey, Hinata. Did you really think that?"_

"_What?"_

"_I may look strong from your point of view. But I always screw up, and I just act strong because I'm mad.'_

"_That's not true! Even if you did make a mistake, you were always … …from my point of view, a proud man who makes lots of mistakes. When I looked at you there was this impact on my heart. You're not perfect… You make mistakes and get stronger from them. I believe that is true strength. Naruto-kun, you are a strong person, I think." After saying this, Hinata's short lapse of courage was up as she moved behind the post which hid half of her body from the one that she truly loved._

"_Thank you, Hinata. I've always been last place in everything. I was nervous over nothing. I was a bit depressed, but I feel better now!"_

"_Naruto-kun."_

"_I'll be off to the matches now. Hinata… I always thought of you as…"_

_The girls thoughts were racing. "What?What?"_

"… _a dark, timid, and weird person."_

"_Naruto-kun…"_

"_But you know something… I like people like you."_

_End Flashback_

Hinata was jolted out of her daydream by Kurenai as she poofed out of nowhere telling the three young ninja that they were to report to the Hokage's office at once.

A few moments later…

Hokage's office

A woman with blond hair sat behind her desk staring down the four people who had just entered the room. The tallest and leader of the four-man team decided to break the silence. Her red eyes met the gaze of the blond-haired woman. "Hokage-sama," Kurenai spoke, "you called for us?"

"Indeed, I did," replied the woman that Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama, why did you call for us?"

"Well," replied the woman named Tsunade, "I have a mission for the four of you. "Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Yuhi Kurenai," Tsunade said, " I am asignning you a B-ranked mission. You are to go to a hot spring in the Land of Tea called Kamikure. The leader of the town is an old friend of mine and has requested that some Konoha ninja assist with his problem. He has hired you four to rid the village of two troublesome men who have been caught peeking on the woman while they are bathing. Capture them alive and bring them back here. I want them alive." When Tsunade was talking about bringing them back alive, knuckles could be heard cracking in the background. "Dismissed."

"Hai," the four man team replied in unison.

"But before we leave Tsunade-sama, why is this a B-ranked mission? They're just some random perverts, you never see a village ask for help getting rid of them. That's what the security guards that are stationed there for," questioned the boy with the dog in his jacket.

"Well Kiba, the two men have already taken out all the guards and two chunin teams from the Hidden Mist Village," whispered Tsunade quietly.

After Tsunade had finally explained that to the four they walked out of the Hokage's satisfied to test their skills against the two unknown men.

Karikure Town, Land of Tea

Meanwhile, two men in dark coats were sitting in a tree in the village of Kamikure. This particular tree overlooked the women's bathhouse. If you looked very carefully, you could tell that they were discussing something very important.

Konoha Main Gates

Three people were gathered at the main gate of Konoha discussing their upcoming mission. "Gosh, Tsunade just keeps on piling on the easy missions. Sheesh , aren't there any better missions," Kiba yelled.

"Anou ... Kiba-kun … This is a B-ranked mission.

"I guess you're right Hinata."

Finally, with a poof of smoke Kurenai appeared. "Shall we start," Kurenai asked her team. The three young ninja took off into the sunset as Kurenai trailed behind them. Kurenai muttered to herself, "These three have grown so much since the time I took them on as Team 8. She thought back to the Chunin Exams. Shino had advanced all the way to the finals, Kiba had put up a good fight against Naruto, and Hinata had finally come out of her shell enough to fight her cousin. She had gathered up the courage to give Naruto some healing balm. They had all improved much more since then each maturing and growing closer together, like all teams should.

Kamikure Town, Land of Tea

The taller man with the black hood spoke quietly to his apprentice, "Go back to the room, I have some work to do."

The Boy in the black hood appeared angry and yelled at his sensei, "Geeze, you're probably going to go 'research' those women in the hot springs. So much for your promise to teach me a new jutsu."

"I only promised to teach you a new jutsu if you mastered the other one. I know,quite frankly, that you haven't mastered it."

"Fine, if I master it tonight, you have to teach me two new jutsus and you can't do your 'research' for three days."

"I will take you on my little apprentice."

"Don't call me little!"

"Whatever," said the taller man in the blackhood as the boy walked back to the room, "I got some serious business to take care of."

Yay, finally done with the first chapter of my first fanfic. Also, I do not own Naruto or any places associated with this fic except Kamikure Town. Please review so I know what to do better next time. Next on 2 and a Half years: Trouble stirs in Kamikure Town. Team 8 gives it their all!


	2. Team 8 Gives it their All!

2 days later…

Kamikure Town, Land of Tea

Two men clad in black walked toward a tree that overlooked the women's bath house. The tallest one said to his apprentice, "So did you master that technique I showed you?" In his mind he chuckled as a wide frown appeared on the apprentice's face.

"No," he gravely replied as another frown appeared on his face. Suddenly out of the blue the young number one hyperactive-knucklehead ninja exclaimed, "Jiraiya, if I don't learn this technique by twelve o'clock noon today, I will no annoy you for a whole week. On the flip side, if I do learn it you have to teach me three new jutsus and not do any 'research' for four days."

Jiraiya thought to himself, "Tsunade must be having quite an affect on me because I'm actually considering this." Jiraiya than told his rambunctious student, "Make it two weeks and you got yourself a deal."

"Fine it's a deal then. You gotta shake on it first though Ero-sennin," Naruto replied mischievously. As the two men shook on it, four people watched from the shadows. Luckily for Naruto and Jiraiya these certain four people hadn't heard them talking about the bet, so they had obviously missed their names. Jiraiya immediately sensed the presence of the four Konoha ninja and signaled for Naruto to stop talking. Both already had their kunai in their hands, and it was just a matter of time until Jiraiya gave Naruto the signal.

"So how's the weather today," questioned the tall man in the black trench-coat. As soon as Jiraiya had stopped talking, the two kunai flew through the air and embedded themselves into the roof where the four Konoha ninja were standing. Kurenai noticed something on one of the kunais. She retrieved the kunai with the note from the roof. It said:

Leave now, we will take no mercy the next time.

P.S. Join a ray at rui.

The four Konoha ninja were surprised. Not only did the enemy sense their presence while they were completely out of view and at least 200 yards away. But also, they were able to prepare an attack on the Konoha ninja and had been prepared for an ambush of some sort. Not only did these facts bug Team 8, but the fact that the two people had mysteriously vanished after they had thrown the kunai when the streets were deserted. Suddenly Kiba broke the silence, "What could this mean?"

"Maybe it refers to the café over there. It is named Ray and Rui's," Shino responded mechanically.

"B-but Shino-kun th-the note s-says n-not to stay here any l-longer," Hinata whispered.

"All-right it's decided, we're going over to that café," yelled Kiba enthusiastically

"Okay team lets head out," Kurenai commanded.

Ray and Rui's Café, Kamikure Town, Land of Tea

"Hey ero-sennin, what if they don't show," asked Naruto quietly.

"Then we have nothing to worry about," Jiraiya replied.

"And if they come?"

"Then we fight."

"Are you positive it's Akatsuki?"

"No, but it's always safer to see if they show we exit the back door got it?"

"Okay ero-sennin," Naruto quietly said. Immediately after, the bell jingled as the door swung open revealing four ninja. Naruto's mouth dropped as he saw who it was… It was Team Kurenai!

"Naruto, let's get out of here," Jiraiya said nudging the boy as he talked. Hinata spotted the two exiting through the back door, as well as the rest of the members of Team Kurenai. The four Konoha ninja ran out of the back only to be greeted by an empty alley.

"Hinata, use your byakugan to find them," Kurenai yelled.

"Kurenai-sensei, I found them, they are heading northwest out to a small hill about 1 kilometer away from here," Hinata said.

"Okay team, lets head out," Kurenai exclaimed.

"So it begins," thought Jiraiya to himself, "I think I'll send Naruto to take on the three Genin, while I have a short little chat with Kurenai." Jiraiya and Naruto had finally reached the hill, and Team Kurenai would reach them in about five minutes. "Just enough time to set up a little trap for Kurenai," Jiraiya muttered to himself. "Summoning Jutsu," Jiraiya exclaimed. A small toad appeared before Jiraiya. "Hey Gamapuchi."

"Yeah boss," squeaked the little toad.

"When you see four Konoha ninjas approach us, swallow the tallest one with the black hair and red eyes," Jiraiya said to the little frog. "Naruto."

"Yeah ero-sennin," Naruto replied.

"You fight the three genin."

"B-but they're my friends," Naruto stammered.

"Do you want to save Sasuke?"

"Of course," Naruto screamed.

"Then show your friends no mercy, and that will be the only way you can beat Sasuke and bring him back to the village."

"Fine."

"Okay boss, hop on in," the little toad squeaked.

Jiraiya first stuck his foot into the toad, and then his leg began to get sucked into the mouth of the tiny toad. After his right leg was inside the toad fully, Jiraiya stuck his right hand into the toad's mouth as his arm was sucked in. Finally, Jiraiya stuck his head inside the tiny little toad, and the rest of his body was sucked into it. Naruto just gawked at the whole process thinking that he was hallucinating as the little toad hoped down the mountain with the Toad sage inside his belly. Finally after the awkward process of Jiraiya being swallowed by a toad no bigger than 12 cm in length and 6 cm in width, Team Kurenai arrived at the hill. As the Ran up the hill Kurenai stepped on something very squishy. A bloodcurdling scream could be heard as Kurenai was swallowed by the toad. Team 8 turned around in disbelief to see their sensei being swallowed whole by a toad.

Team 8 ran to try and catch the little toad; unfortunately for them all three were met with a punch to the gut by a black-robed figure. The three young ninjas flew backwards due to the force of the punch. "We don't want to fight you," Hinata cried out. There was no answer as out from under the ground the shadow clones attempted to punch the three young shinobi. Hinata and Shino back-flipped, but the punch skimmed Kiba's jaw sending into the air only to be met with two more black robes figures that kicked him downwards.

"Man, this guy is more silent then Shino and his fighting style seems so familiar. Yet, I just can't place a finger on where I've seen it before." Kiba thought to himself. Tsuga Kiba yelled plowing through five of the robed figures as they blew up into white colored smoke. Hinata and Shino were doing as well as Kiba taking out five of the black robed figures each. Unfortunately for them, that was only a distraction as four shadow clones pulled Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino underground, only allowing their heads to stick out of the ground. With a large poof of smoke all the clones disappeared as the real black robed figure started walking towards them. As the black robed figure walked towards Team 8, Shino's body disappeared in a cloud of bugs, and a kunai headed straight for the black hooded man.

"Shit," said Shino as the kunai came into contact with a log, "I missed." Shino sent out his bugs to go find the black robed man. Just as he started walking to go free his friends, 100 shadow clones jumped towards him, as he called his bugs back, a shadow clone jumped forward punching Shino in the face, as another cloned jumped high into the air. As five clones slid under Shino propelling him into the air as a final clone kicked him downwards. Instead of hitting the mountain though, Shino was met with twelve punches sending his unconscious body into the dirt at the bottom of the hill.

As Shino and the mysterious black figure fought Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata escaped from their entrapment in the ground. Kiba and Akamaru charged straight for Naruto, little did they know Naruto was waiting for them. Suddenly with a flash of yellow, the black robed figure appeared before Kiba and Akamaru hitting them with a de-powered Rasengan. It instantly knocked out Kiba and Akamaru, which left only Hinata and the black robed figure to fight.

Inside the Belly of Gamapuchi

Meanwhile, as the Team 8 fought against the black robed figure, Jiraiya was having a talk with a certain black-haired, red-eyed jounin. "You have to understand Kurenai, you can't tell anyone about Naruto or I being here, not even Tsunade. If you try to reist, I will knock you out cold…"

Two men in black robes with red coats watched as a certain Uzumaki Naruto knocked out two Konoha ninja senseless and was approaching the third who looked rather pale. "The fun is just about to begin," said the one with a sword strapped to his back.

"Yes, it is," replied a man with black hair.

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Review please. The more reviews I get, the faster chapter three will come out. And if someone can decode "Join a ray at rui" a will do a triple update with Chapters 3,4, and 5. One rule is that your answer must come in the form of a review. I do not own Naruto. Next on Two and a Half Years: Under the Black Robe. The Mysterious Man and the Toad!


	3. Under the Black Robe!

As the black robed figure approached Hinata, she began trembling uncontrollably. She could feel the overwhelming killer-intent radiating from the black robed figure.

**Naruto… Tell the girl that you have cast a powerful genjutsu upon her and that the face of the person she loves most will appear and fight her.**

"Why are you helping me anyway? And why are you telling me to do that, I don't have any powerful genjutsu to use on her. I mean I don't want to hurt her, but I still don't have anything powerful enough to knock her out with that will cause her no pain."

**Naruto, you are the most dim-witted idiot I have ever met. Do you even notice that she stutters the most around you, and will faint when you get close to her? Don't you think that is a signal that something is wrong? You call yourself a ninja, yet you can't sense the simplest of things.**

"You're right Kyuubi, she does always stutter around me, and she does faint whenever she's around me, but what does that have to do with anything?"

**Why did I have to get sealed inside an idiot? Why? What did I do to deserve this?**

"Umm, Kyuubi, you kind of destroyed Konoha and killed hundreds of its ninja. Maybe that's why you're sealed inside such an idiot… Wait a second you're referring to me you bastard."

**See what I mean… Naruto, the reason she stutters so much around you, and faints whenever you are extremely close to her is that she LOVES you.**

"Hinata can't love me… She's the heir to the most powerful clan in Konoha; she could never love someone like me… Or could she? Kyuubi's she does always stutter around me, and faints when I get close to her. She also turns as red as a tomato whenever we talk. Hmm… Maybe the Kyuubi's plan could work.

_Flashback_

_Inside the belly of Gamapuchi_

"_Kurenai… You can't talk to Tsunade about us. It's too risky. Any information about our whereabouts could potentially lead to the Akatsuki finding us and killing both of us." Jiraiya told Kurenai whom he had released from his toad trap._

"_I understand Jiraiya-sama, but why did you send out Naruto to fight against my team?" Kurenai questioned._

"_The reason is actually very simple, if Naruto is truly determined to bring Sasuke back to the village he must show him no mercy. I learned that the hard way when I fought Orochimaru." Jiraiya replied._

"_Okay, I hope Naruto doesn't beat them up too badly," Kurenai exclaimed. Jiraiya released Kurenai from the toad trap as they both began to walk towards the toad's mouth._

_End Flashback_

"You Konoha ninja," the black robed figure said. "I have already trapped you under my genjutsu. No matter what you try it is impossible to dispel and the effects of my jutsu is that the person that you love the most will fight you. This will put you under extreme mental stress, causing you to lose consciousness."

"No, th-that;s impossible," Hinata screamed.

"So you think," the mysterious black robed figure said as his hands reached up to his hood, pulling it off at an extremely slow rate. As the hood came off, and gently fell against the mysterious man's back, a familiar face stared at Hinata, their eyes interlocked.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun," Hinata questioned.

"Of course it is Hinata-chan," and with a flash the back robed man disappeared only to appear right in front of Hinata as their lips met. Hinata felt as if it was a dream. It was what she had longed for all of her life, yet it was just an illusion and she knew it. As the kiss ended Hinata felt the earth rushing towards her. It felt like eternity until she hit the ground in a crumbled heat. The moonlight lit up the lavender eyed girl showing that her face was as red as a tomato and a small smile was printed upon her pale face.

"Good job Naruto, you passed the test, and it seems you were able to master the jutsu," Jiraiya asked.

"Well, ero-sennin, I actually mastered the jutsu three days ago. I just told you that so I could trick you into teaching me three new jutsus and go four days without doing any 'research'," Naruto replied mischievously.

"Why you little brat! First off, I told you never to call me ero-sennin in public. Second off, it really is research. And Lastly, why would you trick me that way, I'm your teacher."

"Naruto! Jiraiya! Just be quiet, and help me carry these three back to the hotel. I'll carry Shino, Jiraiya, you carry Kiba and Akamaru, and Naruto, you carry Hinata," Kurenai said calmly.

"What?!? Why am I carrying Hinata," Naruto screamed.

"Just do it Naruto," Kurenai replied coldly.

"We all know that some of my perverted habits have rubbed off on your Naruto," Jiraiya said with a smirk as he continued winking in the direction of Naruto. At Jiraiya's comment, Naruto turned as red as a tomato. Jiraiya noticed that his student had turned as red as a tomato, said, "You like her don't You Naruto. Either that or my perverted behavior has finally knocked some sense into that skull of yours. Before, you wouldn't have been able to tell true love from a sack of potatoes."

"ERO-SENNIN," Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

Naruto yell was so loud that he woke up to certain kages. Both Tsunade and Gaara woke up from their deep sleep in their offices. They lifted their heads from their drool covered desks, and as the drool dripped from their mouths, they both thought, " Hmmm, I could have sworn that idiot Naruto creaming about something. Oh well, back to sleep for me." After this thought, the Kazekage and the Hokage both fell back asleep eager to return to their dreams as their heads hit their desks as they drifted back to dreamland.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Jiraiya, Kurenai, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru returned to their respective hotel rooms. Jiraiya and Naruto had left as Kurenai put Kiba, Shino, and Hinata into their beds. Kurenai Locked Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru's room as she walked next door to her hotel room. Hinata was fast asleep in bed as Kurenai pulled the sheets in her bed. "Tomorrow I have a lot of explaining to do," she thought to herself as she drifted to sleep.

Naruto and Jiraiya arrived at their room. Jiraiya had immediately fallen asleep as soon as they had entered the room. On the window sill, Naruto pondered something that had been bugging him ever since he had pulled the amazing "genjutsu" and kissed Hinata. "Who do I love, do I love Hinata or do I love Sakura. I know that I love them both, but I just can't tell the love that is shared between a brother and sister and true love," Naruto murmured. This was as Shikamaru would say, "troublesome". Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knocking on the door. "I'm coming," Naruto said. As he unlocked the door, and turned the handle, he opened the door. "Wh-what its you!?! What are you doing here!?!"

It's not exactly a triple update, but I had a case of writer's block. I also finally decided on what I'm going to do with this story and how I'm going to write it. I decided that this story will have from 7-12 chapters and lead into my next fanfic, 5 Years Later. I'm sorry to disappoint all of you who expected a triple update, but I will try to do the triple update Monday, Saturday, or Sunday. I guarantee that I will update at least two of these days, and maybe all three. One of these days will have the triple update, so watch out for it. Review and please and have a safe and happy week. Next Time on 2 and a Half Years: Akatsuki Attacks! Naruto's Decision, Hinata's Hope!

Congratulations:

bigbuck

Taang-more-than-an-orangedrink

And JSai

For getting my little anagram correct.


	4. Author's Note

Author's Note

Author's Note

Unfortunately, to those faithful to my story Two and a Half Years, I have unfortunately run out of ideas for this story, and have no more inspiration to continue it. I like many of you reading this know the pain of reading a story and then waiting forever for the next chapter only to learn that it has been discontinued. I deeply apologize for this inconvenience, and hope you can forgive me for it. Please, if you like this story, read my next story, _One More Time_, which I will try to update regularly, and promise on my life that I won't discontinue _One More Time_.

Have a nice 2008, and Thanks again for reading my story.


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